Balloon Woods Wollatton

A Memory of Wollaton.

Balloon Woods. Most people says it was a hell hole. Yes some parts of it was. But to a child it was good. There were more quite a few blocks. Some had four floors, these were called Tansley Walk, Bealey Walk, Hartington Walk and Peak Walk. They had areas where we could play in safety. We as a family lived on Hartington Walk in block Morestead. which was the second block facing the railway line. Here we got new friends and here we stayed till near the end. Our flat was a upside down one. The two largest bedrooms were on the lower floor as you came into the flat, with the small windowless bathroom, and a cupboard to the right. Upstairs was the smallest bedroom next to the kitchen, the medium sized kitchen was where our mother fed us and cooked. The large living room was where would read and listen to the radio. Our mother taught us to play games, some were brought from jumble sales. We would explore the local woods, especially the one next to the Gondolla pub. The Firbeck School provided a summer play scheme and our mum volunteered. They started to do day trips for children. We went to Skegness and to an Adventure Playground in Leicester. This was a big change for my mother. There came a call for something for the children to do. An Adventure Playground of our own. Although mum couldn't type she became the Balloon Woods Adventure Playground secretary. They first started to meet at the Gondolla and we were allowed to have a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps while she was inside. Then when the money came to fund the playground, we were there with others to see the old tree trunks going into the ground and to see the old prefab building put up, and we were there when it officiially opened. We had great days there, it was open at weekends, during the days and at bonfire nights, they had hot dogs, mushy peas and jacket potatoes. We saw the fireworks display and our building was decorated with children's art work. We spent a lot of holiday time up there. Day trips were added and we got to go to Skegness, zoos and other places. My mum took us to the Nottingham Playhouse as children from here, to see Paddington Bear, and we got to hear 'Peter and the Wolf', read by Richard Baker at the Albert Hall. Our childhood may have been poor, but our mother tried to give us a good educational background, we learnt who built and lived in Wollaton Hall. This was our day-trip place too. The Library in Wollaton village became our stopping-off point. We would go there once a month, choose new books and walk from Balloon Wood flats all the way down Trowell Road, through the village, when we had chosen our books we walked to the hall and park. At that time the playground was at the front, it was surrounded by a brick wall, with old outside toilets. We would spend our day practically there, then we would go around the lake. Our mother would push the pushchair.  We would hide in the plants and on top of the hill. Mum told us about the prisoners there during or just after the war. We would go into the hall and Mum told us we had to behave and we did. We became fascinated by the stuffed animals and the only display of Clifton Colliery, where our grandfather once worked. We learnt about the things around us and we loved the old ant hill in the glass and wooden display. We wanted to see it first every time we went there. When we had walked around the lake we would climb the hill to the rose garden and hide and seek in the small tunnel. The glass house was open then and when we had finished we were allowed to ride the bus back home.
The hall changed when we were all grown up, the mine display vanished and so did the ant farm. The glass house became a ruin untill a few years ago.
When (see Bulwell Memories) our mum died on the Sunday/Monday bank holiday, our family friend and I went to the park. It brought back a lot of memories how and what we got up too.
In Balloon Woods we had small parks with a slide and a black pitch we could play ball on. Here my brother with his large Tonka truck. METAL, not the plastic rubbish you get nowadays, would sit on it, fill it with soil, and then start to push it down the slide. It would shoot off the end and go down the hill a bit. it was battered, dented and scratched. The yellow paint work was pitted but the wheels still worked.
We would also go to the small pond and hunt frogs, newts and tadpols. We didn't then realise we were destroying nature. Along the dirt pathway was a large field that had a whole hedge of trees and bushes and here we gathered blackberries. Mum would make us apple and blackberry pie. Sometimes we went swimming. None of us could swim, but Bramcote provided us the chance to go into a pool. Another of our treats this was. We would look at the horses in the nearby stables. The time came for the flats to go  - look in the images of the Nottingham book by the Nottingham Evening Post. Look at page 145. You will see our mother with a plaqucard sitting down which reads 'Why pay rent'. She is in front of a woman holding a child. She is also in the picture above. Her face is just peeping out from behind another lady. with my brother  Mum was never famous, but she will always be in this book. Balloon Woods will be remembered by us.

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